FM17 Youth Academy Challenge

[Sanno11]

Ilkeston F.C Season 5

League| Squad | Finances |Transfers|Youth Intake |Fixtures 1 | Fixtures 2

Season Overview

To cut to the punchline, we have won promotion to the football league!

We began the season optimistically after finishing last year on a good run, this optimism was lost after a 5-1 defeat away at Stevenage. The tinkering began. The shape never changed just the instructions. We had an away fixture at high flyers Fleetwood and I made, what turned out to be the final set of changes this season. We won 2-1 and controlled the game. Optimism again.

Good wins and unlucky losses were the pattern until the watershed moment against Newport, an amazing win and suddenly anything was possible. This began a spell of 10 wins from 16 games and a surge up the table. We settled in 3rd position in  the league. The problem we now faced was teams respecting us more. We would still control the game but found it much harder to win and see games out, it also felt like our luck changed (in good run we had two consecutive goal of the month wins).

When it looked like reaching the playoffs may slip away the team reached another gear, I would like to believe an inspired team talk taking the pressure off helped. We won 2 of the 3 final games to finish 4th.

The playoff semi final saw us face Stevenage. We controlled home leg but found ourselves 1-0 down, we could not find a way through. With time running out, up stepped Ross Hope (YP18b) and conjured up a goal from a ridiculous angle in the 89' minute, 1-1. The away leg started brilliantly, with us taking an early 1-0 lead. We continued to control the game and amazingly held on.

The final saw us face 5th place finishes Boston Utd. We dominated the game from beginning to end and despite creating several good chances we couldn't score, fortunately neither could Boston, it finished 0-0 and went to penalties. Our keeper Steven Mullarkey (YP18e) had saved around 7 penalties in the regular season (couldn't find info in his stats?) including 2 in 1 match, so I was confident. We scored 4 of the 5 and Mullarkey managed to save 2 of theirs. Amazing.

Top Performers

Ross Hope (YP18b) Started this season slowly, with strike partner Dwyer leading in goals and assists. A long term injury to Dwyer put all our hopes on Hope (excuse the pun) and he delivered 26 goals and 16 assists. No interest from other clubs but will not negotiate a new contract

Steven Mullarkey (YP18e) An incredible season from the number 1. Interest from 3 championship clubs turned his head and also will not negotiate a new contract.

Roy Lee This guy is one of my originals and was only a bit part player due to Dwyers consistency. WIth Dwyer out of the way Roy took his chance admirably, scoring 15 league goals.

Glenn Leverock (YP20b) His workrate got him in the team last season and his performance kept him there. Contributed 14 assists and some important goals.

 

Youth Intake

I much better intake in terms of quality but still lacking good personalities. I will still call this a win and have 3 players I will get in the first team as much as possible next year (I have tagged a player YP22b but don't rate him above these three and so didn't highlight). I am considering replacing the HOYD if a better option is available, especially one who favours a narrow formation.

Peter Haven (YP22a) He will definitely feature in my midfield and most likely as my deep lying playmaker, not exceptional but has good potential.

Rob Pearson (YP22c) A giant of a lad, at 6ft 7 Rob can cause havoc I hope. A fairly balanced spread of attributes and surprisingly quick for a big lad. I will do all I can to make him succeed.

Kevin Nugent (YP22d) A brave centre back, who can do a job at DM. We were desperate for a defender and at every opportunity I feel it is safe to do so he will play.

Club overview

An equally successful season off the pitch. During the season we secured another junior coaching upgrade, taking Ilkeston's to good. Following promotion the board also agreed to raise the youth level to 3. We are also now a professional club. I still haven't been able to upgrade the youth recruitment network and still all but one of my players come from the Ilkeston area.

The huge negative of the season as I write this is Mullarkey and Hope refuse to enter into contract negotiations and haven't for over a year. I am desperate to keep them and will see if after the league reset date they agree to stay, fingers crossed.

 

Summary

I have turned the game off 3 days before the aforementioned player's contracts expire, I don't want to spoil the achievement with that bad news. So I am unsure how strong we will be next year. We performed at our best when we played the biggest teams, I am hopeful that we will remain the underdog for every game next season and can sneak enough wins.

[Braumiller]

@Sanno11  congrats!

 

4 hours ago, MCPlay said:

@Braumiller Out of curiosity, how has TNS fared in europa the other years? In my game, they only got to the third qualifying round of the EL once, and rarely got past the first round.

Good question....  They fell at the following stages (season 00 was my holiday year)

Season 00 - 1st Rnd Qual Champions League
Season 01 - 2nd Rnd Qual Champions League 
Season 02 - 2nd Rnd Qual Champions League
Season 03 - 2nd Rnd Qual Champions League
Season 04 - 2nd Rnd Qual Champions League
Season 05 - 2nd Rnd Qual Champions League
Season 06 - 3rd Rnd Qual Champions League / Playoff Europa League

 

[Braumiller]

4 hours ago, Sanno11 said:

 

@Braumiller Another great season. You keep improving and just need one off season from TNS to start grasping control of the Welsh premier division. It must be frustrating watching their results each week though.

Thanks, it is frustrating......

They have the same manager as when I took over (he has been there 9 yrs & 120 days, 9 league titles and 10 cups) and the same striker scoring for fun, Courtney Duffus.  A free transfer from Everton in 2017/18, Duffus has scored 151 goals in 150 league games for them.  43 assists, 47 PoMs and an average rating of 7.74

Essentially we are waiting for the manager to leave, a bad hire, transfer issues and the stars to align

If I could get Professional status, that would help immensely, but I am presuming that it will only happen the other way around (after I win the league).

Ok, I had not checked until now, and this has me upset...  Barry Town & Connah's Quay both turned professional this off season!  They join TNS to make 3 now.  They may start creeping up on us and Bangor City in the top 3 clubs.  &%$#@!

[darren1983]

@Braumiller another excellent season mate, just gotta keep going till that first breakthrough. Sucks that Barry Town and Connah's Quay have turned Pro before you though.

@Shakes Great first season there. Frustrating to miss out but, as you said, you'd have taken that at the start,

@Sanno11 Yes Sanno! Welcome to the football league mate! Well done on promotion.

[MCPlay]

@Braumiller You should be encouraged. When you finally take over the mantle as welsh biggest team, you'll be very happy to have the other teams giving you a little competition and proving themselves in Europe. Fun fact, TNS' super-striker in mye game, Charlie Bell, was a free transfer from Everton aswell, in 2017/2018. 319 league goals in 412 matches. Scored over 1 goal per game every year untill the fateful managerial change.

I'm rooting for you, would love to see you break through and win it next year!

[MCPlay]

Season 23

2039/2040

League Table | Transfers | Season Review

Dafabet Welsh Premier League

18 in a row. Unbeaten with 5 draws.

Cup runs

1 of 2. Lost the Welsh Cup semi-final, which stopped our streak in that tournament at 9 straight wins.

Champions League

Fixtures

 

We beat AIK from Sweden in the CL play-off, and drew a group of Real Madrid, Shakthar and AC Milan. It was a thoroughly outmatched, and ended up with only 1 point. The one point was a nice one though, a 1-1 draw at home against the spanish giants. At some point we need a lucky draw, maybe get the turkish team from the 1-seed group, and a beatable team from the 3-group.

 

Youth Setup:

Youth Intake

Seemingly a good intake. A 5-star rated right winger, who needs to be retrained. However, I've noticed a trend of players overperforming the star-rating from the last few intakes and some of the best rated players have underperformed, which has opened my eyes toward not giving to much stock to the initial star rating. Jordan Jones 22B which was 4-star rated in the last intake, now suddenly looks to be a beast, and has improved like crazy. Him and Matthew Rees 18A will be a great pairing up top for quite some time.

Big Fat Goalie Challenge:

Dave Owen 14B - 58 Goals. 4 this season, 1 free kicks. Another down season for Davey. 4 goals is disappointing, but to be fair he did miss 2 months.

 

Danny Roberts Challenge

The aim in this Challenge is to get a player to score 1000 goals during his career, national team goals count.

Most goals:

Huw Price 4A - 447 goals in 669 games. 2 goals in 10 games this season. The legend decided to call it quits on an amazing career after this season, his attributes were declining rapidly, and he didn't want to play at any other club than his belowed Haverfordwest. Now that his last game is played I'm sure the board has already commisioned the world's greatest sculpteur to make him a gigantic statue outside the stadium.

Jacob Davies 10D - 391 goals in 354 games. Has left the club, so wont add to this. He was a big contributer to getting Burnley promoted to the PL last year. This season he started 29 PL-games and scored 7. He is really making us proud.

Matthew Rees 18A - 241 goals in 212 games. 57 goals in  42 games this season. A great season which was cut short by a late 3-month hamstring injury. He was unhappy for a brief time in the january-window, but his love for Haverfordwest quickly overcame his desire for a bigger league.

 

Semi-Interesting stuff

After the season I saw a very promising development. Several of the other teams started buying players from outside the country, which hasn't happenedd before. TNS sometimes brought in some free transfers from England in the early years, but it's been quite some time since the last transfers from abroad. Bangor City lead the way, and brought in 3 players from Ireland and Northern Ireland who all had international experience, from the senior team or u-21. They bought an amazing looking striker, Shane Murray, and it seems that they will be favourite for the 2nd spot this year.

[XaW]

Wow, many had great seasons! Too many to mention, but great job people!  I'm writing up my season report and will post it soon.

[Braumiller]

Below is my tracking of my squads Determination.  November 2021 is when I started tracking as I was having multiple (8+ in my squad of 37) players with downward trending Determination.

My presumption is that some calculation of average squad determination (first team? all squads? just players above a certain squad status?) is used and if it is below X (or above Y) then a players Determination can be affected (positively or negatively).  I have made a conscious effort to let lower Det players go where is makes sense and keep around fringe players with higher Det, in order to raise my overall squads Det.  Since the average has been over 8 I have noticed only 1 player with a down arrow for Det in over a year (compared to 8+ at a time previously).

I think I have turned the corner, but I will keep tracking it to make sure.

[Braumiller]

One last point of interest.....

do you think this is hindering my chances with getting the board to turn us Pro?

Check our my chairman's personality!.......

Purely for interest, anyone care to share what their current chairman's personality is?

[Tush]

Some clubs just don't take no as an answer (check the other messages aswell )

 

@Braumiller my chairman's personality is balanced

[Mushtaq]

Can you holiday for two seasons to try get the team you want to come up?

[Braumiller]

6 minutes ago, Mushtaq said:

Can you holiday for two seasons to try get the team you want to come up?

Yep!

(It just cannot be a team that went down in the first season, who comes back up again)

[XaW]

XaW - Imortal - 2022/23

Table | Past postitons | Squad | Transfers | Finances

My first season in the top tier of Portuguese football, and it was a good one! In the summer window we managed to hold on to everyone I wanted, even though other teams were circling around a couple of our best players and bids were coming in left, right, and center. Still, no one got very angry, and everyone was kept. The fixture draw was anything but kind to us when it gave us ties against Porto, Benfica, and Sporting within the first 5 matches. Needless to say, we had a rough start to the season. This hard start made moral drop to the floor, and we had some poor matches for a while. A successful team meeting, and a hard earned win gave us the confidence we needed and we fought our way back up to mid table. We continued to hover around the center of the table throughout the season. In the winter transfer window our semi-first-choice goalkeeper Pedro Araújo (YP20a) suddenly had lots of teams interested in his service. Then Bayern came with a bid and it was automatically accepted. Was the board at it again? No, this time the error was mine. He had a release clause for £1,6M, and I had forgotten to give him a new one without it. So we lost him, and I can understand why he wanted to join Bayern instead of staying with us. The season went on, and we stayed mid table for the rest of it, and I was very happy with how the season went.

One of our issues this season have been our tiny stadium with a capacity of less than 5k. I asked for expansion at the start of the season, but they board told me it was impossible. But at the end of the season I got this message! So after next season we should move into our new stadium. A big loan, insecure financial state, blah blah blah will be the answers for the next seasons if I were to ask anything I guess.

In the Taça de Portugal we beat Merelinense, CD Tondala, CD Feirense and CD National to progress to the semi final. Here our opponent were Sporting CP. One of the big ones here in Portugal. In the first match, at home, we managed to win it 2-1 after two late goals. In the away match we were 1-0 down as the match closed in on the 90th minute when we had a corner. Our rock in defense João Hugo (YP18c) rose up and thundered a header into the net. We managed to hang on and qualified for the final! Here we were up against Benfica. They got the lead after 14 minutes, but we equalized only 4 minutes later. However they got back in the lead shortly after before getting a third 10 minutes later. After that Benfica controlled the match in, and we couldn't create many chances. We finished as runner-ups, but a very good effort from us. This will not give us any European spot, only the winner gets it. In the Taça CTT we won against Leixões SC to qualify for the group stage. Here we drew SC Freamunde, Benfica and União da Madeira. We gave it our all, but finished 2nd behind Benfica.

The youth:

A very good youth intake. Some very talented players came through this season.

New players:

Olexandr Naumenko (YP23a) - Part Ukrainian left back who went straight into the main squad to fill a gap we have had for a while.
Ricardo Bento (YP23b) - Talented (and tall!) central defender who will be part of the first team next season.
Mário Araújo (YP23c) - Striker I have hopes can do well for us.
Rui Freitas (YP23d) - Good to have a third goalkeeper with some skill.

Fifth intake:

Óscar Mesquita (YP22a) - A very good season. Scored some great freekicks and did great as a defensive midfielder.
Ivo Estebaínha (YP22b) - Easing him into the main squad. Does very good when he gets chances.
David Candeias (YP22c) - Very good stat increase. Don't play were well when he gets some chances, but he still have a lot of time.

Fourth intake:

Tiago Falé (YP21a) - A very good season and are now a regular for us.
Jorge Loureiro (Y21b) - A lot of matches this season, but don't really deliver. Capped by the U19s.
Marcello Gschwend (YP21c) - Not as many matches as last season, but does well.
Pedro Bernardo (YP21d) - 2nd choice now, and got some matches. Conceded quite a bit, but that's not all his fault.
José Carreiro (YP21e) - A decent season. Might fade from the team due to the new arrival.

Third intake:

Pedro Araújo (YP20a) - Transfered to Bayern in January. Capped for the U21s and a great goalkeeper.
Paulinho (YP20b) - Fantastic season as our main striker. Set new goalscoring records throughout the season.
Luís Antunes (YP20c) - A good season as our playmaker.
Jamie Bernardo (YP20d) - A decent season. Got capped for U19s.

Second intake:

Emerson Cordeiro (YP19a) - Loaned out from PAOK to Santa Clara who got relegated from our division this season. (Schadenfreude? Why yes!)
João Pita (YP19b) - A poorer season. Seems to have every other season good and poor so far.

First intake:

João Carvalho (YP18a) - Only 2 sub appearances for A.E.K. this season. Poor progress.
Régis (YP18b) - A good season as our main goalkeeper.
João Hugo (YP18c) - Not as good as last season, but still a good season.
Duarte Pita (YP18d) - Loaned out to the 3rd tier now. Didn't do great. Might stop following him now.
Hélder Rodrigues (YP18e) - Started good, but then got several lengthy injuries. When he came back he had lost his spot in the first 11. Have some work to do.
Franclim Carriço (YP18f) - Loaned out from PAOK to GD Chaves who barely survived relegation. Didn't do very good.
Selton (YP18g) - Didn't play much for Steua, only a couple of the bench.
João Oliveira (YP18h) - A decent season in our defense.
João Veríssimo (YP18i) - Mostly a backup on the wing now.

 

Season	|         League	      |     Position	   |    Europe	  |         Top scorer             |    Achievements
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2017/18	| Campeonato de Portugal Prio |     2nd/7th	   |      N/A 	  |       Ivo Candelas (7)         |   Reached the promotion stage
2018/19	| Campeonato de Portugal Prio |     1st/6th	   |      N/A 	  | Hélder Rodrigiues (YP18e) (17) |   Reached the promotion stage
2019/20	| Campeonato de Portugal Prio |     1st/1st	   |      N/A 	  | Hélder Rodrigiues (YP18e) (25) |   Promoted as Champions
2020/21	|      Ledman LigaPRO         |      10th	   |      N/A 	  | Hélder Rodrigiues (YP18e) (18) |   Safely mid-table
2021/22	|      Ledman LigaPRO         |      1st	   |      N/A 	  | Hélder Rodrigiues (YP18e) (19) |   Promoted as Champions
2022/23	|        Liga NOS             |      8th	   |      N/A 	  |     Paulinho (YP20b) (28)      |   Safely mid-table, cup runner-up

 

[Velodromè]

 

Førde IL season 9: 

Intake - Review

Not quite there yet. Halfway through it looked like we could make it, but it became clear towards the end that we don't belong here yet. We won a few matches and could have won a few more, but we had problems hanging on to a lead. We managed to dominate posession in most matches, but were never in control in the same way as in the first division. One way we struggled to convert on our chances, the other way we could't keep the opposition out. Still, the season wasn't a complete disaster. We made a lot of money during the season and got the stadium expansion done, so now the stadium holds about 5400 places. We also got the board to improve the youth facilities, and after the season we turned pro, so the process on offering the most promising youngsters full time deals are in progress. We will return!

[The_Gato_In_Goal]

Very nice season @XaW and who doesn't love a Portuguese/Ukrainian player?

[XaW]

17 minutes ago, The_Gato_In_Goal said:

Very nice season @XaW and who doesn't love a Portuguese/Ukrainian player?

Thanks! He is a very good player!

In other news; the chairman strikes again! At least the potential sum was rather good.

[XaW]

33 minutes ago, XaW said:

In other news; the chairman strikes again! At least the potential sum was rather good.

I actually got really pushed by the press regarding this "rumor" that the chairman had sold players without letting me get a saying. Got asked a lot of questions regarding it, a nice touch there to differentiate from the kind of repetitious mechanic that press meetings are.

[Shakes]

Nice first up go @XaW, pity the stadium came too soon to be named after you.

Rees seems to be on track @MCPlay, a lot depends on injuries though from here. The initial star rating is often off by a fair bit, but the revised ratings can be misleading too, the game seems to up the potential shown if they are currently growing fast even when they ultimately end up topping out where it initially said they would. Still it's better to get a player that reaches their 4 star potential by 18 than one that never reaches their 5 star potential!

Congrats on the promotion @Sanno11, that's one hell of a congested top end of the table.

[MCPlay]

Is this the breakthrough year? We are unbeaten after 3 games in the CL, having beaten Anderlecht and gotten a draw against Arsenal and Juventus. We massively outplayed Arsenal and Juve, and was very unlucky to not get 3 points! 5-0 in clear cut chances against Arsenal, such bad luck

[MCPlay]

Whoah, we're halfway there! Whoooah, livin' on a prayer!

Suddenly we are dominating the giants. Surely we will advance now?!

 

 

[Velodromè]

Sometimes the game just makes you want to cry. Got this guy ahead of season 10, but he was too ambitious to sign a full time contract and left on a free transfer to Rosenborg. 

[Sanno11]

@Velodromè I was going to just say unlucky on being relegated, but having and losing a player like that is terrible. I hope the comeback season goes well and you forget all about Krosshaug.

@MCPlay That is some win against Juventus, I expect after such a frustrating game against Arsenal that must have been a relief. Interesting to how this improvement in Europe will start to filter into your game.

[Kazushi80]

 

Last year, i didn't finish the challenge, but i want to give it a new try this year after i followed a few stories here in this thread over the last weeks. I chose Portugal as country (yeah, i know, i am the third one already), because it's one of the few leagues i've never managed a team in over all fm versions and they are famous for great youngsters.

My Manager

My club is Eléctrico F.C.

Because of the nice name it was the first of the promoted teams, i checked out. Good youth and good training facilites sold me immediately to take control of the semi-professional team.

There are some really talented players there, for example a good goalkeeper who is only 21. and there are some youngsters, too. In my Under 19s are 4 (!) central defenders with 5 star potential.

But one problem: Every player is on an amateur contract and it looks like a lot of them don't want to sign part-time-contracts, because they're thinking they are to good for the club. And in most of the players other clubs are interested, so i hope i don't lose my whole squad.

The Club

 

[darren1983]

@Braumiller my chairman's personality is balanced.

@XaW Another excellent season there mate

@MCPlay great results in the champions league there. Good luck for the rest of it

@Velodromè Double ouch there, think losing a keeper like that would annoy/upset me more than relegation

@Kazushi80 Welcome.

 

As for me, I spent my hour train journey today with the game open and coming up with individual training plans (basically 2 or 3 attributes I want a player to improve on, on 2 or 3 month rotational basis) for every single player currently under contract. Think I may have gone a bit OTT with it  

[Pippadoc]

Grenoble-Foot 38 - End of Season Review 2018/19

Squad - Table - League Results - French Cup Results - Transfers - Finances

Championnat National - 7th

The board reduced our expectations to a mid-table finish this year. So we managed to exceed expectations and improve on last years finish by 1 position whilst finishing on the same points total. 

All-in-all this season feels like one that got away, rather than another success. We start the year in fine form, going unbeaten for the first 8 games of the season. Unfortunately, we only took 3 wins from those games and that really came back to haunt us at the end of the season after suffering some drops in form over the course of the season. 

We were fantastic at the back all year, only conceding 23 goals and keeping 17 clean sheets in 34 games. It was necessarily that we sacrificed our attacking ability to do this either, in a lot of games I felt like we created opportunities, both one-on-ones and shots from inside the penalty area, but finishing cost us dearly as we only scored 32 goals (the worst in the league). Injuries may have played a part as well as Nicolas Belvito, our best striker by far, missed 2 months with injuries (and was probably hampered for another couple of weeks getting him back up to full fitness).

If we'd just been a little more clinical, we could have made a real push for promotion. 

French Cup - Knocked out in 10th Round

This was a fantastic cup run for us, we breezed through our opposition until the 9th round. There we got the big money draw I'd been hoping for against a Ligue 1 side. We actually took the lead against Montpellier, before the equalised. It was a fairly even game throughout and we took the all the way to penalties. We were perfect, scoring 4 of 4, whilst two misses from there earned us an amazing win!

In the 10th round we got another Ligue 1 side, and again weren't over-running by any means. No goals in the tie lead us to another penalty shoot-out, which to 9 rounds before they finally earned a 7-6 win to knock us out. 

I'm delighted with the cup run. Unfortunately it didn't add much to us financially and really we're going to need promotion sooner rather than later to stay in a reasonable financial state. 

Top Performers

Brice Maubleu (GK) - Maubleu has been ever-present for us this season and has been one of the key's to our fantastic defensive record. He seems to have avoided any interest from bigger clubs, so with a year left on his contract hopefully I should be able to re-sign him without any major issues. 

Maxime Spano (DC) - Another repeat from last season top performers. Spano is our covering centre-back and in that role he's managed a very surprising 6 man of the match awards. I think this comes from him getting huge amounts of interceptions, including a whopping 30 in one game! He's a key player for us and still quite young.

Yassin Mohamed (WBL) - I was debating selling Mohamed early in the season, but some helpful people on here convinced me it was the wrong thing to do. It certainly paid off, with Mohamed having a fantastic year and leading the club in assists with 9. Another relatively young player, although Mohamed may end up being replaced by some of our promising WBLs in the next couple of years. 

Ibrahima Coulibaly (MC) - Coulibaly plays at the centre of our midfield 3 in an Advanced Playmaker (Attack) role. He's done very well at this year, scoring 5 goals and setting up another 4. At 29 he's one of the older members of the first team, but should hold his role for a couple more years at least.

Nicolas Crus (ST) - A role change from Advanced Forward to Poacher, really allowed Crus to thrive this season. Last year, he was very disappointing managing to score only 4 goals in 13(9) appearances. This year, he has been fantastic scoring 16 in 23(7) and becoming the top goalscorer this season.

Youth Watch

Mathias Horjak (YP16A) - Horjak had a great year for us, and was the only outfield player to play in every game this season. He has primarily been playing as a Box-to-Box midfielder, although he has stepped in as an Advanced Playmaker when Coulibaly has been unavailable. He's progressing nicely and will keep his first team role next season. 

Jeremy Amestoy (YP18A) - I have plans on Amestoy becoming the star striker here. His first season didn't go to plan however, with him failing to score a goal until the second to last game of the season despite having plenty of playing time. He has bounced about between roles a little, depending on the availability of Belvito and Crus, but he needs to make some big steps next season or risk being surpassed by some of the other youngsters around the club. We need goals now, so if he can't perform early in the season I will have to give alternatives a try. 

Club Overview

Financially we need to get promotion asap, we're just going to lose money in this division and eventually it could lead to the board selling players over my head. We will lose about £1500 p/w off the wage bill as a couple of players contracts expire, but it's not going to make much of a difference. Cup games didn't seem to make too much of a help so we're stuck losing money for the time being. 

Goals for Next Season

We need to be at least in the running for the promotion spots come the end of the season, if not earning promotion. Within the next two season I want to see us promoted to Ligue 2, or the constant losses we've been making could hinder any real progress after that. We have the players to do it, we just need to score a little more consistently and we'll have a real shot. Hopefully, Amestoy can add some goals this season and Belvito can stay healthy, if so we should be in for a great season. 

[Tush]

Season 2 (Year 2019) - 1st - Champions/Promotion!

Manager | Club | Squad | Facilities | Transfers | Finances

League+Cup | Fixtures

 

Youth intake: Great intake, 2 of players are already 1st team members, the GK (of course with his star rating) and DR (developed greatly over the season). Other players also have very nice potential.

U19 Squad: Kids finished 2nd in U19 group and performed really well over the season. The team on top was undefeated for the whole season, so I'm very pleased.

Manager: I finally managed to persuade the board to let me study for first license. My reputation grew slightly, I believe winning the league has to do with it.

Club / Facilities: Managed to upgrade Junior Coaching to "Average" level and also due to upcoming league requirements, the stadium seats are being installed.

Finances: Cup money helped very well in the season, but we are still losing much money monthly. Luckily, higher league should bring more profits.

Cup: Good cup run, we were expected to reach just 2nd round, but made it to 4th round and received nice sum for it.

League: Looking back, I would be pleased with mid table finish, but from the first third of the season we took hold of 1st place and never let go. Morale was flying high throughout the season and was a major contribution to us becoming champions!

 

Goals for next season: Survival and establishment in the higher league.

[Velodromè]

Førde IL season 10: 

Intake - Terje Krosshaug - Review

An intake of a professional club. I nearly fell of my chair when I saw Krosshaugs profile, but it was too good to be true. He had higher ambitions than Førde, so he did not want to sign a professional contract and left on a free transfer to Rosenborg (U19) mid season. The rest of the pack is promising, although a bit too focused on wingers/midfielders. I am hoping for a decent defender or two in the future, since Abrahamsen have been a disappointment when it comes to development. 

The season was not very good, but we got the job done and returns to the Premier Division. When we succeed we play the best football in the country, but too often we are let down by sloppy defending and bad decisions in posession, which leads to a long ball over the defence and easy goals to the opposition. This happens a lot against the flat 4-5-1, so next season there might be some changes.  

[The_Gato_In_Goal]

 

SV Spakenburg - 2020/21

 

Jupiler League | League Table | Dutch Cup | Transfers | Squad | Facilities | Finances | Best 11 

Whatever worked for us last year decided to stop working all of a sudden. The first half of the season was tough and our players weren't performing and we weren't getting any results. Luckily enough, we were able to patch a few wins together and we secured safety with a 1-0 win against Almere on the last day of the season. The goalscorer was actually Emre Taylan (03a), our best youth from last year, who scored his first senior goal for the club. Unfortunately, the board wouldn't upgrade our facilities (other than junior coaching) during the year, so nothing changed with that. We do have training facilities due to be completed next November,so that's something . Finances keep climbing although I do expect the facility upgrades will continuously make larger and larger dents in our budget. Youth intake gave us a couple of good left backs, which was the one position we didn't need, so that's exciting. Other than that I've got to be getting near the most anyone has ever spent in the lowest division in this challenge and it isn't looking to change anytime soon.

 

Class of 2021

Mitchel de Koning (04a) - One of the actually good left backs, should challenge for the first team in a couple of years.

Erdem Yiğat (04b) - 18 teamwork is great and we don't have an amazing RWB, so maybe he can do something there in the future.

Remco van der Veen (04c) - Decent. He's got some good stats and a good personality but won't get much time over Kees van Berlo (02a) at the moment.

Koos van Halst (04d) - Looks pretty good and has some nice PPMs.

Mike Kuijpers (04e) - Looks decent enough and has got some potential.

 

Class of 2020

Emre Taylan (03a) - No player even improves for us in the first year, but I'm relying on him to turn into an elite striker.

Dennis van der Wal (03b) - Should get some more time in the first team next year.

Anouar Scholten (03c) - Time to start developing next year cause we need good CBs.

Sebastão Ntyamba (03d) - Unless he improves massively, he will sink into the endless abyss of left backs.

Antonio Werleman (03e) - Probably gets released unless he does something magical.

 

Class of 2019

Kees van Berlo (02a) - Decent season from him as he's been the best youth player in our first team this year.

Achraf Rahmani (02b) - He might become a backup next year.

Nathan Felomina (02c) - Improved a bit and is a backup center mid now.

Hüseyin Boşnak (02d) - Still backs up Ed van den Beld (01a).

Muhammad Wijaya (02e) - He'll will be released as his contract expires, he just isn't good enough.

Lorenzo Babel (02f) - See above.

 

 

Class of 2018

Ed van den Beld (01a) - He might get some first team minutes next year if our original keeper plays as bad as he did this year.

Andy de Jong (01b) - We still don't play wingers.

Jamal Chihab (01c) - We're so desperate for CBs that he has to play the entire season again. He's not great quality, is he?

Rzeni Anillo Saidi (01d) - Got the award of the first to be released by the club when his contract expired.

Jan van der Heijden (01e) - Looks pretty good and has developed nicely. With both of our strikers 32 now, he will get some chances in the first team next year.

Felizardo Costa (01f) - Backup for the first team this year, so hopefully he can push on next season.

 

2nd Nationality Watch

Morocco x5

Turkey x3

Angola x2

Suriname x2

Aruba x1

Curaçao x1

Greece x1

Indonesia x1
 

 

Career Overview

 

Season    League            Position    Dutch Cup      Training Facilities    Youth Facilities     Junior Coaching     Youth Recruitment   Achievements/Notes     Top Scorer                  Most Assists          Highest Avg Rating 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2017/18   Jupiler League    19th        2nd Round      Poor                   Basic                Basic               Fairly Basic        N/A                    Tol/Van der Meiracker (16)  Tol (7)               Tol (7.07) 
2018/19   Jupiler League    19th        4th Round      Basic                  Poor                 Basic               Fairly Basic        N/A                    Tol (17)                    Van der Meiracker (7) Van der Meiracker (6.97)   
2019/20   Jupiler League    18th        2nd Round      Below Average          Below Average        Adequate            Fairly Basic        N/A                    Tol (13)                    Oostinjen (10)        Custovic (7.09)  
2020/21   Jupiler League    19th        2nd Round      Below Average          Below Average        Average             Fairly Basic        N/A                    Tol (14)                    Tol (7)               Van der Heijden (01e) (6.98)  

 

[Velodromè]

10 seasons in Førde IL: 

Facilities - Finances - Best Eleven - Tactics - Competition History

Summary

We are currently improving youth facilities when we can, training facilities are a bit too expensive at the moment. Financially we are okay, but this will improve with a new season in the Premier Division. The tactics are some sort of 3-5-2 for now, with emphasis on keeping the ball. When it clicks it is fantastic, but with many teams playing 4-5-1, we struggle to break them down. Three CD against a single striker isn't very good either, but right now we don't have fullbacks to play around with, so we stick to 3-5-2 another season. To wrap it of we have a short presentation of the squad. 

 

Squad 2028: 

Ole Gjengedal - If Krosshaug had signed a contract he would be on the bench, but now he is our undisputed nr 1. 
Markus Attila - A rock a few years back in the second division, a cone in the Premier Division. Hoping for a replacement soon. 
Thomas Zetterdal - Same as above. 
Mads Abrahamsen - Had high hopes for him, but he has not developed at all during two full seasons in the first team. 
Endre Kittelsen - Suffering a bit because of the formation and has to step in as a central defender from time to time, but won't reach the potential he once had. 
Ole Edvardsen - Had bags of potential, but has not been able to get it out. Will probably be released soon. 
Emil Eikeskog - The leading star from the first intake, but failed to reach his potential. Was on his way out a few seasons ago, but a boost in determination allowed him to stay. Key-tutor atm. 
Mads Førland - A personal favorite and fits like a glove in the left central midfield role. Unfortunately he isn't really good enough for the Premier Division, so might be replaced soon. 
Jan Rune Reksten - Another promising star with a poor approach to training. Had high hopes for him and he has been okay in the First Division, but hasn't developed as I'd hope. 
Eivind Vågen - The leading player of the team. Went berserk when he got a full time deal last season, have never seen so many dark green arrows on a player. Hanging on to him as long as I can. 
Ivar Almen - Youth prospect, first season in the squad. Almost as good as Reksten, so he will get the priority. 
Sindre Skartun - Was casual on arrival, but tutored him to fairly pro. As Vågen his development exploded with a pro deal. Have attracted interest from other clubs, but will hang on to him as well. 
Terje Norevik - Have hopes for this one as well, currently under tutoring from Eikeskog, hoping for a boost in determination. 
Tonny Solheim - Not as promising as the others, but might be a candidate for the DPL with his passing/vision. 
Ole Morten Myhre - Recently promoted as the potential of the older left wingers in the first team are fading. Will get playing time, hope he developes into the winger we need. 
Ole Rygg - Same as above
Lars-Erik Kristiansen - Another midfielder with potential, will get the chance if he does well in training. 
Elias Myklebust - Relegated to 2nd team, hasn't really developed since he got the chance. 
Stian Klaveness - Same as above. 
Gaute Aker-Iversen - Same as Lars-Erik Kristiansen. Much potential, but plays in a crowded position. 
Djalaluddin Hashemi - Hopefully our striker to be. Intend to get him tutored from Holtvik to get his determination up to 15. 
Martin Holtvik - Our top scorer, even though his ability isn't that good. Good determination, so will keep him as a tutor. 
Jørgen Nergård - Rated as the best player at the club. Was low determination, but worked his det up to six, making him fairly loyal. 
 

 

[Shakes]

Chimney Corner - Season 2 - 2018/19 NIFL Premier Intermediate League

11 August - We lose to Queens University on the opening day. After a fairly indifferent pre-season this wasn't the start we needed.

28 August - A big victory in the Steel & Sons cup, 8-1 against Moyola Park from our division. Huge morale boost!

20 October - After 8 games we've only let in 3 goals in the league and have sat 1st or 2nd the last few weeks depending on goal difference.

29 October - Our starting sweeper Connor Murray reminds us players are indeed on non-contract terms, moving to a 4th tier team.

30 October - We surrender a 3-1 lead to the bottom placed team, setting off a run of 5 league games without a win. Complacency seems to be an issue.

16 January - A double 0-0 draw in the 5th Round of the Irish cup to progress on penalties against 2nd tier team Ballinamallard Utd shows that when switched on we're capable of punching above our weight.

9 February - We go in at half time of our 6th round cup tie away to top tier Cliftonville 1-0 up. They get motivated and destroy us with 4 goals in 20 minutes in the second half to remind us we still have work to do.

23 February - League table is tightening up, we're back to one point off first with 5 to play. With 4 in a row at home, including top placed Lurgan Celtic, our destiny is in our own control.

6 March - Youth Intake. A very nice one, with the midfielders we didn't get last year. The best of the prospects are

• (19a) Paul Quinn - MC - By far the best prospect we've gotten so far, with decent stats for this level across the board already.
• (19b) Adrian McComb - MC - Another ready made midfielder who will strengthen the weakest link in the team.
• (19c) Eoin Duffin - MR - Good marking and work rate for a winger which makes me think he'll do well as a wing back in our formation.
• (19d) Gary Young - MC - The third top midfielder of our intake, we don't have anyone with his passing flair in the side so he should add something new to the team.

Like last year's bunch we'll be gradually introducing them, although I expect by this time next year the three midfielders will be in our best XI.

9 March - On a rainy day against Dundela we manage only one shot on target to lose 1-0. Somehow still only 1 point off top, but now only hanging onto 2nd by goal difference with 2 other teams 2 points behind.

6 April - After going top with a 2-1 win the game before, we manage to lose 2-0 to the second last placed team (the same team that erased a 3-1 lead against us, they seem to just have our number). The feeling is we just blew first place there.

20 April - 2nd vs 3rd and everything to play for against Lurgan Celtic. 18 minutes in and our striker McGroggan recieves on the half way line, the defense backs off as he beats a challenger and slots into the right corner from outside the area. Just before half time (18a) James McGovern crosses from deep and McGroggan heads home a second. An uneventful second half until Hamill throws in to our other striker Leworthy who slots it home. 3-0 victory, we're in the box seat for the promotion playoff, and a shot at the title.

4 May - Need a win against a team we've dominated before in Moyola Park. I just have an awful feeling about it though, like we used up our goals in that cup tie. Disaster on 42 minutes as their striker beats 3 of our defenders to a deep cross and scores. We can't muster anything until the very last minute when McGroggan is put through one on one but tamely taps it straight to the keeper. 1-0 loss. As it turns out a win would have won us the title.

Review - Table / Cups / Squad

3rd place again. Last season's points total would have won us the league this year, but it was tougher up and down the table, so I'm not going to get caught up on us backsliding a little there. What I am disappointed about is that we had every chance to take command and seemed to just get sloppy. Scoring was harder with teams respecting us more, and our strikers not quite as brilliant as they were last year. We definitely need the young midfield and strike force to begin to take their place in the first team next year.

Our under 18s won their league so we know they have talent. I'm just going to keep on slowly moving them in. So far I have three in the first team:

• (18a) James McGovern - WBR - Complained a couple of times that I should include AML in my formation but eventually settled into the wing back role to come second in the player of the year voting. Sadly no longer showing 5 star potential.
• (18b) James Whiteside - DC - Became too good to leave out, and with his size and WBL already taken I've been retraining him as a DC. 
• (18h) John Hanna - SW - The loss of Connor Murray kind of forced my hand a bit. I didn't love playing two inexperienced defenders while pushing for a title, but he held up alright and will be better for the experience.

Ambitions - We again had the best defense, and we had the best goal difference. We've got the platform for promotion there, just need to execute.

[Braumiller]

Season 07 - 2023-24

The Season As It Happened.....

Preseason
Our usual 1st Qualifying Round of the Europa League start to preseason, and this time we avoided the bigger team seeded in our section (Rangers of Scotland) and drew AE Limassol of Cyprus.  They are a professional team with a couple of handy looking players, but for the first time I fancied our chances a little.  The first league was away and we played poorly  Losing 2-5.  The home leg we played much better, to the point where the away leg now looked like an aberration.  We won 2-0. to lose 4-5 on aggregate.  The second goal was with the last kick of the game, so we were never as close to a comeback as it looks, but it does feel like a case of what might have been!

August / September 2023
A very nice start to the season, winning every game except the big one.  TNS at home in the 2nd league game of the season and we lost 0-1 in a very tight affair.  They just manage to edge me out every time!

September 30th 2023
Wow!  A new record victory mark for Port Talbot following the 10-0 demolition of last place Llangefni in the league.  30 year old captain Thomas Silva bagged 4 in a rare start 'up front' with 6 other different scorers finding the back of the net

December 19th 2023
Another example of not being able to update this as I go due to not wanting to jinx a run...  Up until a 1-1 draw with Aberystwyth today, I had won all 14 of my non-TNS league games....  We actually had a 1 point lead over TNS going into this fixture, but my draw and their win now give them a 1 point lead!

December 26th 2023
Liam Maggs 2021-D came to me wanting a new deal, which he deserved.  We couldn't come to an agreement and suddenly I had the whole first XI in a meeting room demanding his excellent form deserved a new deal.  I would not usually bend to demands, but he did deserve it and I do not want to upset the apple cart midseason with things going well.....  He got a new deal....

January 28th 2024
Mickey Mouse Cup Final against TNS, just 3 days before we meet in the league.  I go with a full strength team, they have rested around half their first team....  Boom, 4-0 and a piece of silverware!  Now to see what we can do against a full strength and rested TNS...

January 31st 2024
At the 3rd league attempt this season we beat them!  Potential game of the season as well.  TNS went into the break 0-1 up due to a penalty.  We struck back after 54 minutes and both teams had chances.  TNS regained the lead on 78, but we stormed straight back and equalized 2 miinutes later.  With 5 minutes left it was our turn to be awarded a penalty and we tucked it away!  As the final whistle blew
we were now top of the league by 2 points with 9 games to go (including a trip to TNS).

February 24th 2024
Our last league meeting with TNS of the year and we were tied on points at the top going into it.  Again it was a very tight game and they were edging it 0-1, so I had to go attacking.  We huffed and puffed, but they caught us on the break and made it 0-2 and that is how it ended.  TNS now lead by 3 points with 5 games to go

February 28th 2024
Youth Candidate Day 2024!
Connor Whitelock 2024-A - A good looking central defender.  Very nice starting attributes in most of the right places.  Let's ignore his player trait for now....
Matty Jones 2024-B - An attacking right back and one that could fit into our style of play.  Identical playr trait to Connor, but in this instance it is perfect for the role.  Height could be an issue, but if he breaks into the first team we can deal with it
Daniel Duggan 2024-C - Another central defender and again good starting attributes
Robert Lewis 2024-D - Decent central player.  We have lots of options, but more options is not a bad thing

February-May 2024
We finish the Championship Conference section of the league with a record of P10 W7 D2 L1 but it was not enough.  TNS win the league again, this time by just 3 points!  our closest yet!
My overall league record again TNS was P4 W1 D0 L3, so if any of those losses (0-1, 0-1, 0-2) had been draws we would have won the league!
My overall league record against everyone else..... P28 W24 D4 L0 - So unbeaten against the rest of the league.  Yay!  and Grr!

May 11th 2024
Welsh Cup Final day and again we face TNS.  And again we produce a fantastic cup display against them, securing our first ever Welsh Cup!   3-1 the final score to make it a cup double for us this season!

Random Notes / Thoughts
Really is tough to decide whether to be annoyed with the season (we went unbeaten the whole year against non-TNS teams, could we have done any better(?) and yet still did not win the league) or proud of the season (we did our best to date in the league AND we won the mickey mouse cup for the 3rd time AND we won the Welsh Cup for the first time ever).
Personnel wise, the kids really started to make names for themselves and I had a true sense of who played where, who filled in for who when they were tired and what changes I could make to mix things up.  I have now moved out all non youths from the first team, except club captain Thomas Silva, who keeps putting in great displays and making it tough to drop him!  31, turning 32 next season, he will have a reduced role, but he will still have a role.

End of Season Screenshots
League Table
Results - League / Cups
Transfers
End of Season Awards
* Player of The Year 1st Place - Jordan Martin 2018-D (51%)
* Player of The Year 2nd Place - Ross Fisher 2020-A (37%)
* Player of The Year 3rd Place - Mark Heyes 2020-B (10%)

Season 07 Targets
* Continue to scare TNS
* Try to scare someone (anyone!) in Europe  
* Evolve the tactic and our versatility

[Shakes]

Not much you can really do there @Braumiller, just need to get the results against TNS. +70 goal difference without winning the league must be close to some kind of record?

[Sanno11]

Just thought I would share this as I wasn't aware it was possible. When selecting an affiliate club it states 'you will have access to the affiliates clubs training facilities' (or something like that)

I was lucky that an affiliate I could chose was Loughborough Uni with 'Impressive training facilities'

Now on my own club's facilities screen it lists 'impressive training facilities'

Not sure if this is useful to anyone else but something to look out for, ours were below average before.

[MCPlay]

@Braumiller Great season. You'll soon get them! Is Craig Harrison still in charge of TNS? He knows his football..

 

In other news, I've advanced from the CL-group stage for the first time! We beat Anderlecht 2-1 at home in the fifth game to secure advancement. We then travelled to the Emirates to take on Arsenal, needing only 1 point to win the group. Our immense form unfortnuately came to an end, and we were steam-rolled in a 5-0 loss. A bit disheartening, as it felt like we had really gotten a grip on these games, but the gap in quality is still hard to overcome when the opposition is playing at their best.

 

We also got this bit of news, telling us that we have developed 89 players for the Welsh Premier League. Thats pretty decent

[Pippadoc]

@MCPlay - That's amazing getting out of the group! Fingers crossed you can get a good draw in the next round.

 

I've been having a surprisingly busy summer for a club that isn't signing any players. I've managed to sell a couple of players in addition to two retirees which has saved us around £3k p/w on the wage bill. It won't make us profitable, but it'll help us from slipping too far in debt. 

I've also been getting a ton of interest in a fair few of my players. Amestoy (YP18A) has gotten offers of up to £450k so far, all of which are being rejected. Fabre (YP19A) and Cherubin (YP19D) are both attracting plenty of interest as well. Despite not thinking he'd be one of the top prospects in the class, Cherubin has been attracting interest from Ligue 1 sides. 

It's going to be a long summer of rejecting offers for about half of our promising youth players!

[Braumiller]

@MCPlay he is and he does!  What was the cause of him leaving TNS in your save?

[MCPlay]

@Braumiller He just retired, got sick of winning I guess

[makovn]

SC Bacau Season 2 2018-19

Fixtures 1 | Fixtures 2 | Transfers | Me 

League : We had a great season, we weren't very consistent but got wins and managed to conquer the top. we then stayed there and i actually hoped we wouldn't get promoted as are squad isn't good enough for Liga I  and i want to keep my job so lets hope the board doesn't expect too much and i manage to survive. Catalin Pitaru 18a won Romanian Second league young player of the year and i Won Manager of the year. surprisingly we had only one player in the team of the year and unsurprisingly  it was Catalin Pitaru 18a. Season review- tells all that is needed to be told.

The best of the rest

Alexandru Corban: he isn't going to be our player for long as he isn't signing a new contract. i am disappointed beacuse he is our best CM but at least Cristinel Cifor 18b will get more chances as this year he nearl didn't touch the ball.

Andrei Ureche: Gaz Metan matched his release clause, until then he was amazing and gave us wins with his hands (literally ). at least my young GK got chances.

Andrei Marginean: had an amazing year at CB was our rock at the back, we need him for Liga I in the same form. lets hope he won't get injured.

The best of the best can always get better- 2018

Catalin Pitaru 18a: An amazing season he turned from boy to god. he was the first intake player to score a goal for the first team and was our best player over our season.

Valentin Prisaca 18c:  He had a great season which put him as our starting LB and he only gets better.

Mihai Bojescu 18d: he came for Ureche and he did a great job in goal so i don't miss him too much.

Youth intake 2019

Andrei Voinea 19a: another great FB prospect jumped straight into the subs bench because Prisaca was amazing this season

Alin Petrache 19b: we needed an AML to play my favorite 4-2-3-1 and he was straight into the first team scoring a couple of goals

Liviu Ilies 19j: he is professional and he doesn't look to bad. so far he is in the under 18s.

Marius Pantilimon 19c: another AML straight to the sub bench. got depth but not the best.

overall a solid intake got some depth but i wished for more.

 

[makovn]

oof i missed so much progress so just say GL and well done all

[Velodromè]

Skartun is a popular man. Not sure how long I can hang on to him, got him under contract until 2029. 

[Braumiller]

7 hours ago, MCPlay said:

@Braumiller He just retired, got sick of winning I guess

Wow, starting season 8 here tonight and he is only 46......  Cannot see him leaving anytime soon

[darren1983]

Dulwich Hamlet - EFL 2 - Season 2024/25

 

League - after going so close last season this feels like a huge step back. Everything that worked last year just didn't this year. Towards the end of the season we were struggling for goals from our forwards so I tried a new formation and to say it didn't take would be an understatement. By the end i was just glad this season was over. Truth be told I have no idea where to go from here. This season was very deflating.

League Cup - Championship Birmingham were far too strong for us.

FA Cup - comfortable win then we lost to a team in the league below.

EFL Cup - meh, won one and lost 2 again. Used it to try formations and players out.

Transfers - Have started to loan out players that need game time

Squad - starting to become fully home grown, only 4 or 5 non home grown in the squad these days

Finances - very good, we were boosted by the fact the keeper we sold in season one was sold by Leeds for £1.2m meaning we got £600k which was nice

Youth Intake - better than last year, would love a quality DM and Keeper as the ones we have produced aren't really of a good standard.

Anthony Berry (YP08A) - striker who, with some work, could be solid at this level
Maurice Crook (YP08B) - a needed LB as we were producing lots of RBs but very few LBs
Bill Sweeney (YP08C) - a solid CM able to play a couple of roles.
Dean Warner (YP08D) - another solid looking forward
Tony Baldwin (YP08E) - a left winger, good solid physical stats, needs some work on the technical stats
Mark Hyem (YP08F) - another CB, good physical stats, left sided as well which is new.

 

Career Overview

Season		League		Position	Achievements

2017/18		VNS		1st		Champions
2018/19		VNL		7th		
2019/20		VNL		14th 
2020/21		VNL		15th
2021/22		VNL		4th		Promotion via playoffs
2022/23		EFL2		22nd 
2023/24		EFL2		4th		Lost Playoff Semi Final	
2024/25		EFL2		22nd 		

Next Season

I dunno, need to get back to being solid at the back, am hoping a whole season of playing games has helped our young CBs. Aim is 50 points as per usual.

[Shakes]

Chimney Corner - Season 3 - 2019/20 NIFL Premier Intermediate League

Preseason - Well my plan to bring them in slowly hit a snag, most of my first intake are too old for under 19s. Guess I have to play them rather than have them rot in the reserves. So many bids on my players, this non-contract thing is annoying.

August 17- (18f) Chris Bell scores a hat trick in the space of 5 minutes. After a torn calf muscle ended his chances of forcing his way into the starting XI last year, this year he's looking the goods.

August 24 - Lost (18a) James McGovern to another team, I think I missed responding to the contract offer in the spam of several per week my players are getting.  

September 21 - The 90th minute isn't a bad time for (18c) Nathan McKee top score his first ever goal, this extends our unbeaten league start to 6 games. We top the table with a game in hand.

October 19 - 9 games in and we're still undefeated with 19 scored and 6 conceded. A couple of draws mean we've slipped from top place. We're yet to play the first and third placed teams, so the big test is to come. Pass it and we'll be well on our way to winning the league.

October 29 - We fail the first test, losing 2-1 away to Queens University in a game we probably had the slight better of but they took their shots better than us.

November 16 - Give up an early goal from a free kick and we lose 1-0 at home to Limavady Utd to fail the second leg of the test despite again being the better side for most of the day. We're 5 points off second and 7 off first, with it all to do in the second half of the season.

November 30 - Letting in 5 goals in a cup game against a 5th tier team wasn't exactly the confidence booster I had in mind. Then losing 4-1 at home to a bottom feeder in the league. Yikes, when things turn they really turn. We risk blowing our early good work if morale isn't lifted by a win soon.

December 16 - (19b) Adrian McComb picks 2nd tier Donegal Celtic over us. Not much I could do there. 

January 25 - (18a) James McGovern now plays for bottom placed Killyleagh. I know this because he scored against us to rub salt into the wound. 2-0 loss, fair to say our season is shot by this point as we're really losing touch with the top of the table.

March 4 - Donegal Celtic steal another of my midfield crop, with (19d) Gary Young signing for them now.

March 11 - Youth Intake

Not as good this time around, which seems to fit the mood of the season.

• (20a) Noel Dalzell - AMC - Needs to be retrained to be a MC, but he takes some of the sting out of losing two midfielders.
• (20b) Conor Blair - AML and (20c) Dale Baird - ML - Probably the best option with these two is to train them to play MC, I don't see the playing time to develop them as wing backs.
• (20d) Chris Harris - DR - Looks like he should make a decent right wing back, the determination is really the only downside.

May 2 - The end finally comes for the season, we ended up losing 8 of our final 13 games after our initial 9 game streak. At least we got to play a couple of all youth teams at the end.

Review - League / Cups / Squad / Transfers

At first introducing more youth to the team looked brilliant, but in the end the results say it was a failure. We slip down to 5th. First the defense failed, then the confidence went, then the goals dried up. We scored 19 in our first 8 games then 10 times in the remaining 14. I really don't know what to make of it, do we need to change something or coming back rested will we turn it around?

Losing 3 players sucked, but the thing that's really making this a grind is having to offer new contracts constantly to try to fend other clubs off. Sometimes it's more than a dozen per week, including times when I've had to re-offer a player the day after he signs a new contract! We desperately need the couple of promotions so we can actually sign players to contracts, but I'm not sure how to get the consistency to make that step.

Awards

• (18f) Chris Bell - The success story of the season, scored 20 goals, although he was a bit boom or bust, since that included two bags of 4. Hopefully he can be a little more consistent next year.
• (18i) Bobby Black - Took over the keeper spot and did alright, the fans obviously put less blame on him for our defensive lapses than I do.
• (19a) Paul Quinn - The only of our midfield trio to see through the season with us, like much of the team his best football was early in the season.

Plans

Need to think about this one, do I keep the faith in the current game plan that has looked brilliant when being executed well, or do I shake things up? The talents of the squad have been completely turned over from when I started so maybe I need to look at what best suits the new generation.

[Shakes]

@darren1983 - I know the feeling of backsliding, and the dread of playing the next year wondering if it'll be quickly forgotten or the new normal.

Ouch @Duroliponte, playoff games can be cruel like that. Looks like you're at least progressing in the right direction though.

[Shankly84]

FC Chelyabinsk

Season 1 - 2017-18

Russian First Division - 15th 

League Table - Results 1 Results 2 - Transfers

 

Starting Profile

Season Overview

So this is my first time trying this challenge. I chose to take over FC Chelyabinsk in the Russian First Division. I chose them mainly because they are a one team city with a population of over 1 million people. Plenty of people to tap into later in the challenge (hopefully).

My fist season was very up and down. We were clear favourites to go down and I could tell from the start it was going to be a massive struggle. We started the season with 3 straight defeats and then 3 straight wins. Typical of the season to be fair. We had a couple of decent spells were it looked like we may pull away from the relegation places (ALL 5 OF THEM!!!), but eventually we finished level on points with the highest placed team in the relegation zone. Although our goal difference was worse than their's, we stayed up on games won.

In terms of the cup there was nothing to write home about, losing to a lower division side at the first hurdle.

 

Youth Intake

Our first intake was a decent one. Hopefully we can get some early use out of Gusev and Dryaev.

Star Players

Victor Kuznetsov - Potential to be the best player in the squad. Only player in the team who I think could cut it in the top league. A product of the academy, although came through before I arrived.

Evgeny Gusev - Best player from the intake. Will try to retrain him as an AMR ready for the start of next season.

Nikita Pechenkin - Central Midfieder who weighed in with goals.

Kirill Kholodov - Pechenkin's midfield partner. Best current player.

Vyacheslav Steshin - Best striker at the club. Would of preffered more goals from him though.

 

Next Season

Hopefully not be involved in the relegation battle. Not sure how likely this is yet though. Will probably take a couple more decent intakes to kick on.

[The_Gato_In_Goal]

 

SV Spakenburg - 2021/22

 

Jupiler League | League Table | Dutch Cup | Transfers | Squad | Facilities | Finances | Best 11 

We continued to cut it close this season, only avoiding relegation on the final day again. It has been a tough save as now I'm 5 seasons in and still haven't finished more than 2 places ahead of the bottom. It makes me realize how this challenge in the Netherlands would be impossible if more than 1 team got relegated each season. Anyway, things are starting to look up I think. We only have 2 or 3 real players left in our squad and the last 2 or 3 intakes are looking much better than the first couple (obviously). So when those players get into the first team, we should be able to progress more. Got another training facility upgrade due for next year and then it's going to start taking a few season to build up the finances for each upgrade. Anyway, the grind continues.

 

Class of 2022

Daan Janssen (05a) - We're losing a player in CB this year, so he looks like he could be a decent replacement.

Brian Spaan (05b) - Can we just have 1 year where we don't get a LB or a GK?.

 

Class of 2021

Mitchel de Koning (04a) - Looks good, but he's behind van Berlo (02a) and van der Veen (04c) at the moment.

Erdem Yiğat (04b) - Hasn't played much this year, but has some potential.

Remco van der Veen (04c) - Had a really good season in the U19s, but unfortunately he has Kees van Berlo (02a) in his way.

Koos van Halst (04d) - We've got so many center mids older than him in the U19s.

Mike Kuijpers (04e) - Got thrown into the first team and was able to keep his spot. Keep an eye on this guy in the next few years.

 

Class of 2020

Emre Taylan (03a) - Played pretty well in the first team, but it's a bit concerning that he still hasn't improved much since we got him.

Dennis van der Wal (03b) - Made the DM spot his and averaged over a 7.00 rating in it.

Anouar Scholten (03c) - So close to the first team, but 6 tackling lets him down.

Sebastão Ntyamba (03d) - He's gone after his contract runs out.

Antonio Werleman (03e) - See above.

 

Class of 2019

Kees van Berlo (02a) - First youth player to average over a 7.00 rating.

Achraf Rahmani (02b) - Probably isn't good enough.

Nathan Felomina (02c) - Don't know what to do with him, he's a solid backup who won't play.

Hüseyin Boşnak (02d) - Still backs up Ed van den Beld (01a), who backs up an original GK.

Muhammad Wijaya (02e)

Lorenzo Babel (02f)

 

 

Class of 2018

Ed van den Beld (01a) - If we didn't have a good GK he would play.

Andy de Jong (01b) - Trying to keep him around for tutoring maybe.

Jamal Chihab (01c) - It's funny how he's our leading youth in appearances and he not very good.

Jan van der Heijden (01e) - Took his first team spot this year and was our leading scorer even though he didn't get into double digits.

Felizardo Costa (01f)

 

2nd Nationality Watch

Morocco x5

Turkey x4

Angola x2

Indonesia x2

Suriname x2

Aruba x1

Curaçao x1

Greece x1
 

 

Career Overview

Season    League            Position    Dutch Cup      Training Facilities    Youth Facilities     Junior Coaching     Youth Recruitment   Achievements/Notes     Top Scorer                  Most Assists          Highest Avg Rating 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2017/18   Jupiler League    19th        2nd Round      Poor                   Basic                Basic               Fairly Basic        N/A                    Tol/Van der Meiracker (16)  Tol (7)               Tol (7.07) 
2018/19   Jupiler League    19th        4th Round      Basic                  Poor                 Basic               Fairly Basic        N/A                    Tol (17)                    Van der Meiracker (7) Van der Meiracker (6.97)   
2019/20   Jupiler League    18th        2nd Round      Below Average          Below Average        Adequate            Fairly Basic        N/A                    Tol (13)                    Oostinjen (10)        Custovic (7.09)  
2020/21   Jupiler League    19th        2nd Round      Below Average          Below Average        Average             Fairly Basic        N/A                    Tol (14)                    Tol (7)               Van der Heijden (01e) (6.98)  
2021/22   Jupiler League    19th        3rd Round      Adequate               Below Average        Average             Fairly Basic        N/A                    Van der Heijden (01e) (9)   van Berlo (02a) (5)   Veerman (7.06)  

[Tush]

I realised I have not updated any screenshots of my youth prospects, so here are 5 best ones (4 from 1st team and one in U19 squad)

GK: Sigurd Tønnesen (YP02a) - my star goalkeeper, 17 years old and he already has 4,5* ability, with clubs looking to snap him up, but for now he is happy with us, thus making me very happy , because he makes nice saves during matches!

DR/WBR/MR: Goran Aasen (YP02b) - after one year he is by far the best DR I have at disposal, with quite nice potential yet to achieve

ST/AMR/AMC: Stian Sunde (YP02c) - U19 striker with good potential, good to have him as I have just one great striker at the moment with no replacement, so he might be moving to 1st team during the upcoming season

MC/DM/AMR: Thomas Vestheim (YP03a) - I finally got a DM though intake, so I am not forced to play my other grey star one, he also has nice current ability right off the start.

DC/DM: Jørn Lorentzen-Bjørkan (YP03b) - Good DC and also DM to use with rotation with Vestheim mentioned above, his 2 stars are as good as the other defender I've been using.

[Braumiller]

@The_Gato_In_Goal keep plugging away, with those finances and continued survival, you will be in great shape soon with excellent infrastructure and foundations laid

@Shankly84 eek, close shave there!  Good luck next season

@darren1983 rough one there, but every season in the league system should = increased rep

So close @Duroliponte  

[MackieStaggie]

Having being a lurker for sometime and watching the progress of others on this thread, I finally decided to step up to the plate and give this a go.  Not the adventurous fella, I stay with my home nation Scotland.  Welcome to Dalbeattie Star aka as The Star.....well we are not known for originality when it comes to nicknames.

 

Dalbeattie Star

Season 1 - 2017/2018
 

Starting Profile - Moved as much as I could towards the youth sides of things, as you can see I've modeled my avatar on that creepy 1,000 yard stare guy in your local.

Starting Squad - Not much to go with but I have lucked in with a semi-decent DR and DC along with a competent striker.  Most will have their contract extended for another year at least just to build an experienced base to allow our youth players to play with.

Club background - Basic info.

 

Season Review

Scottish League Cup - a nice group with a big Premiership side at home gives a bit of a cash boost (little about that later on), 2 rather big losses agaisnt Rangers and Morton are offset by narrow 1-0 wins against Peterhead and Stranraer which gives us a decent confidence boost heading into the start of the season.

Challenge Cup - A narrow 1-0 loss to Annan in a game which truthfully we were never really in.  There's not much money in this so with the small squad I have I'm happy to not have the fixture congestion that comes with this.

Scottish Cup - This is where my best chance of getting some decent finance into the club, but need a fair bit of luck to get there.  Fraserburgh was the first hurdle in the 2nd round and a convincing, if not spectacular, 2-0 saw us into the bag for the third round.  Unfortunately that is where the story of our cup run ends after a through 3-0 thrashing at the hands of Clyde.

League 2  - The aim is too survive by any means necessary but it turns out that The Star are fairly competitive, at least enough to give us a fighting change.  We flirted with the bottom spot but going into the last day of the season we remained in 9th place with Stirling in 10th place 2 points behind (table), as luck would have the last game of the season is away to Stirling.  Game 36 was not pretty and was never going to be but we squeak out a 1-1 draw, doing enough to avoid the relegation playoff.  Stirling would then go onto lose the playoff 2-0 to Cove Rangers. 

Youth Intake - This is where I channeled my inner Oprah Winfrey and he got an contract and he got a contract and everyone gets a contract.  There is not any decent stand out to be honest but enough to bolster my 1st team and have an U20's to get some playing time for the reserves. 

Finances - Oh, this is where it turns nasty.  We have little to no funds, limited shirt sponsor and not a great home crowd.  We'll need a decent injection of cash from somewhere...can you sell the players kidney's on the black market???

 

Season 2 preview - Look to try and get into the 4th round of the Scottish cup for a decent payday, about the only way I can get some money.  in the league it's still about survival while trying to blend in our few decent youth players into the first team. 

 

Results to Date:

Season     League    Postion   Challenge Cup   League Cup   Scottish Cup   Traning Facilites   Youth Facilites   Junior Coaching   Youth Recruitment   Avg Attendance  
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2017/18    League 2  9th       1st Round       Group Stage  3rd Round      Poor                Basic             Adequate          Basic               185 (5% Full)   

 

[darren1983]

11 hours ago, Shakes said:

@darren1983 - I know the feeling of backsliding, and the dread of playing the next year wondering if it'll be quickly forgotten or the new normal.

Yeah, have been trying to come up with a new tactical plan today in the hope of getting the best out of my better players.

58 minutes ago, Braumiller said:

 

@darren1983 rough one there, but every season in the league system should = increased rep

Aye that's true, one exciting/good thing is that I've managed to get our junior coaching up to an excellent level.